


The Ruse

by zaphodsgirl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Buttertacles Attacks Take 2, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Make Out/Fake Out, We Are All Jojo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-04 22:58:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12781455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zaphodsgirl/pseuds/zaphodsgirl
Summary: Cas tries to help Dean from getting unwanted attention, but he gives away more than he planned to.





	The Ruse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jojodacrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jojodacrow/gifts).



> This collection is what happens when you want to spread cheer and a bunch of creative people rally to the cause. 
> 
> This work was written for Jojo, who changed my life and deserves all the good things the world has to offer. I hope this helps you get well soon.

"Shit," Dean says, and Cas turns to look over his shoulder until Dean kicks him under the table. "Don't look!"

"What am I not looking at?" Cas grumbles as he leans under the table to rub his abused calf. Dean is sliding as far into his side of the booth as he can, crowding up against the wall and scrunching down over his beer. 

"It's Cassie's friend Lisa," Dean whispers into the table, which Cas finds ridiculous because it's doubtful she has ears like a bat. "Move over to this side, try and block me from her view."

Cas rolls his eyes before he obliges, sliding gracefully off his bench and over to Dean's without even standing up straight, peering into the darkness of the bar over by the door, trying to figure out which one is Lisa.

"I thought you and Cassie were getting along now? It's been a year since you broke up. Why are you hiding from her friend?" Cas tries to keep the bitter note out of his voice, because Cassie is actually a wonderful person. She's funny and smart and gorgeous, all the things a guy like Dean deserves, even if the two of them didn't work out. It's just the thought of all the things she got to do with Dean, things _he'll_ never be able to do, that rankle at him. None of which is her fault, as he reminds himself everytime he hears her name.

Dean sighs, rubbing a hand over his face before occupying it with the label on his beer bottle. He picks at the corner, looking for a loose spot, and when he finally finds someplace to get his fingernail under he vandalizes the label as he thinks. He's got almost an inch of it free along the right side, bent back as he carefully peels, before he finally speaks.

"I ran into Cassie here last week, that day I had to work late and stopped to get a burger on the way home." Cas isn't surprised. Most of the people they know frequent the Roadhouse, and have since they were in school together. It was the watering hole of choice when they were all in college, and none of them have been able to let it go as they barrel towards their thirties. Today's crop of college hopefuls have anointed a different bar as their haunt of choice, now that this one is polluted by the alumni crowd, because old habits die hard.

"Again, I don't know why this is news that has you cowering in your seat, hoping she won't see you." Dean glares at him, but Cas just glares right back until Dean inevitably gives up and looks away. Cas has been the undisputed winner of The Stare since they first roomed together a decade ago, but there are some lessons that Dean just can't seem to learn (which is why Cas always throws Rock).

Dean has nearly two inches of label peeled back now, so Cas just waits patiently, rolling his own nearly empty beer between his fingers. 

"She mentioned that she and Benny have been dating for a few months, you remember him?" Cas nods, because he never forgets anyone, even if he wants to. "Anyway, I said I was happy for her, and she started asking who I've been seeing. I could tell she was feeling around, trying to see if I'd gone back to my old habits, you know?"

Cas tries not to visibly cringe. He knows. He knows all too well. As painful as it was for him to watch Dean date Cassie for three years, it was certainly preferable to seeing him work his way through the female population of local hardbodies for pleasure. Every time a different one came out of Dean's room in the morning doing a walk of shame Cas died a little bit inside, because it was just another notch in Dean's bedpost that wasn't him. 

Except that wasn't the only thing he wanted, and until Cassie he thought maybe Dean just wasn't capable of doing that with _anyone_. Until Cassie, the only person Dean ever treated like an actual domestic partner was Cas. As painful as it was to watch the parade of buxom women leaving the apartment, Cas thought maybe that's because they gave Dean the only thing he desired that Cas didn't provide -- not because he didn't want to, but because he was the wrong sex for Dean. 

He'd been content being the person that Dean went to the movies with and cooked dinner with and fought about the dishes with, even if he couldn't have that other stuff. He'd convinced himself it was enough, because it seemed to be enough for Dean.

"What did you say?" Cas asks, because he realizes he actually doesn't know. Dean had moved in with Cassie eventually, and when they broke up she moved out, so now Dean lives in their old place alone. Cas has always wanted to ask him to move back in, but can't find a reason to. After all, it's not like they _need_ to live together anymore, though they've gone back to spending most of their time together. He looks at his empty bottle as he waits for Dean to answer, his stomach full of dread. He wonders how much company Dean's picked up in the last year to take home to his solo apartment where he can be as loud as he wants. 

"Well, I told her the truth, that I'm not seeing anyone. I haven’t even been with anyone else since we broke up." Cas thrills a little at that, before remembering it doesn't change things for him. "She told me that her friend Lisa is single now, and that we should hook up. I mean, Lisa and I always got along great -- she has a son that's really cool -- but I'm just not interested. I tried to tell Cassie that, but she really put the pressure on. I have a feeling she already told Lisa that she'd get us together."

Cas signals the waitress for another round while he tries to remind himself that he is an adult and should stop picturing Cassie's head exploding like Michael Ironside in _Scanners_. He opens his mouth to say something, but Dean interrupts before he can. 

"Damn, she's looking all around. I have a feeling Cassie told her that I hang out here so she's looking for me specifically." Cas figures out who she is, then, because there's only one woman in the bar who looks like she's on a scavenger hunt. She's gorgeous, so Cas hates her, and it makes him feel petty.

"Do you really want to put her off from the idea of dating you?" Cas asks.

"Absolutely. You got a plan?" Cas turns to look at him as the waitress puts fresh beers in front of them before moving away again, and Cas sees Lisa from the corner of his eye. Target acquired, and she's on the move. 

"Do you trust me?" Cas asks, looking Dean in the eye, and he nods without hesitation.

Cas puts an arm around Dean as he leans in and presses their lips together, and even in the crowded bar he can hear someone gasp audibly from a few feet away. Dean's lips aren't moving against his at all. He's often fantasized, deep down, that if he ever took a chance like this Dean would somehow respond favorably, would fall into his arms at just the touch of Cas's lips and realize they were meant to be together. 

That fantasy is well and truly crushed, but even so, he'll always have this brief moment where their lips touched. He pulls away, and Dean just looks back, blinking at him stupidly before realizing someone is standing next to their table.

"Lisa, hi! I, uh, I didn't realize you ever came here," Dean stutters out, and Cas tries to pull away but Dean grabs at his shirt with the hand Lisa can't see. He seems willing to go along with the ruse, then, and Cas is relieved to know he probably won't get punched in the face afterwards.

"Yes, um, Cassie, she recommended this place. Great, uh, burgers," Lisa says lamely, and Cas tries not to gloat. Mission accomplished. Dean seems to gather strength from her confusion, and smiles at her.

"Yeah, they're awesome. We eat here a lot, don't we?" Dean says to him, smiling, and Cas nods. 

"Sure, and when we don't come here we're getting takeout," he adds, smiling at Lisa before taking a drink from his new beer, willing himself not to act like a smug asshole because he hasn't actually won anything. 

"I think Ben would really like the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger," Dean continues, and Lisa seems to have regained her composure and decided to make a quick exit. 

"Great, thanks for the tip!" she says with forced enthusiasm. "It was great to see you, Dean. Nice to meet you, too." She nods at Cas, probably realizing she doesn't know his name and that they haven't actually _met_ , but he's not going to tell her. Cassie knows him, after all, even if Lisa doesn't, and she'd be sure to pass along the name of Dean's new 'friend' when she saw her next. Best not to make it so easy to debunk.

Lisa turns on her heel and heads for the bar, no doubt to pretend to place an order. 

"There you go. I'm sorry if..." Cas starts to say, but Dean tugs at his shirt and puts the other hand in his hair, pulling him closer -- and then they are actually _kissing_. 

Cas kisses Dean back like he's thirsty, like Dean is an oasis and Cas has been wandering the desert without hope for days. He's surprised and confused but can't bear to stop what's happening so he can get some clarification because Dean just _kissed_ him.

Dean eventually pulls away, and Cas realizes that he's clutching the Dean's jacket in his fist so hard the zipper is digging into his palm, the other arm still around his shoulder. Dean is staring at him, eyes wide and mouth agape, and a sense of dread falls over Cas. 

_Here it comes_ , he thinks, releasing Dean's jacket and moving to the end of the bench. It's just occurred to him that Dean was going along with the ruse for Lisa's sake, but Cas had forgotten it entirely once they were kissing in earnest. He can practically see the gears clicking in Dean's head -- the realization that Cas enjoyed that far too much for someone who was faking it. 

"I..." Cas starts, but suddenly the sense that he's ruined their entire friendship is clogging his throat, and he exits the booth as quickly as he can, dodging between the patrons of the crowded bar until he's out the door. As soon as he gets into the parking lot he starts running, not caring that he's wearing his good shoes from work or that his apartment is two miles away or that he stuck Dean with the check. Every slap of his shoes against the pavement sounds like a gavel banging to signal the end of his friendship with Dean, who is probably sitting in the Roadhouse wondering just how long his best friend has been in love with him. Wondering if they're really even friends, or if Cas has just been hanging onto Dean all these years just to be close to him. That part's not even wrong, and it reminds him for the thousandth time just how pathetic his life is.

It takes at least twenty minutes for him to reach his building, and he leans against the wall beside the main entrance, hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. Tears prick the corners of his eyes, but he tells himself it's from the run as he takes long inhales through his nose and out his mouth, willing himself to calm down. What's done is done. Now he has to go inside and try to think of a way to explain himself if Dean ever talks to him again. 

He pushes off from the wall and lets himself into the foyer, shoving his hands into his pants pockets after he's pushed the button for the elevator. His legs are trembling from his impromptu run, and he leans against the back of the car and watches the numbers above the door track the ascent to his floor, to his empty apartment. The car stops with a lurch, the doors slide open with a ding, and he sighs as he trudges out between them and turns left, shuffling to his apartment at the end of the hall. 

"Good thing you had your keys in your pocket when you fled like a coward," he mutters to himself as he unlocks the door, tossing the keys into the adjacent bowl while it's illuminated by the light in the hall. He enters the dark apartment without flicking on any lights, shutting the door behind him before he turns to bang his forehead against it a few times.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid,” he says as he punctuates each word with his head, then just rests it against the door. He's uncomfortable in the clothes drenched with sweat from his run as they cool in the air conditioning of his apartment, and resolves to take a long shower and climb into bed for the rest of his life when a lamp clicks on behind him.

He turns rapidly, pressing himself up against the door as his brain tries to catch up with his eyes, because they see...Dean. 

_Fuck_ , is all he thinks as he swallows hard, bracing himself for the inevitable.

"Huh, uh, how..."

"The Impala is faster than you are," Dean says, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean," Cas just gestures to the apartment.

"You never took back the keys when I moved out, remember? Told me to hang onto them, just in case." Dean doesn't sound angry, but that worries Cas even more. He knows that Dean burns with a quiet rage when he's truly upset over something, until the moment he spills over like an untended pot of boiling water. He's sitting in the corner of the couch, legs splayed before him and crossed at the ankle, resting one elbow on the arm of the sofa. Cas scrambles behind him with one hand as it searches for the doorknob, grasping it tightly, and Dean's face gets a pinched look as he sees.

"I'm sorry, Dean," Cas blurts out, finding his voice. "I didn't mean to, I mean I just, I didn't really think..."

"Cas," Dean interrupts, firmly but not forcefully. "We really need to talk." He stands from the couch, coming around the coffee table and then crossing the room slowly, like he's afraid Cas will bolt again. 

Cas grips the doorknob, unsure of what's about to happen, and as Dean raises a hand Cas closes his eyes.

There's a part of him that's expecting a blow. He's been on the receiving end of a straight man's distaste with his affection before, and it doesn't matter if it happened in high school when kids are cruel and boys are dumb. It doesn't matter how he feels about Dean or how well he knows him -- he can't help but expect retribution.

So he's understandably flustered and confused when Dean's hand brushes against his cheek, when both hands come up to cup his face, and his eyes fly open to see Dean standing inches from him. He's looking at Cas like _he's_ the one who's afraid. 

"Cas," he whispers. "We really do need to talk, but right now," his eyes flick down to Cas's lips and then back up, "I'd like to kiss you again."

 _Is this really happening?_ He nods, because he can't speak, and Dean leans in to brush their lips together, teasing with feather light touches before he captures his mouth completely. This kiss is less frantic than the one at the bar, more relaxed, full of promise and intent. Cas releases his death grip on the door knob, the taut muscles in his body relaxing, and he tentatively puts a hand on Dean's hip.

Dean responds by leaning into Cas, pressing him into the door with the length of his body, and kissing him deeper. Cas wraps his arms around Dean's waist instinctively, unable to quell the chant in his head of _Dean is kissing me, I'm kissing Dean and he is kissing me_ but then Dean pulls away again, leaning their foreheads together as he breaths heavily.

"Is this," Cas starts, trying to catch his own breath, "is this the part where we talk now?" Dean huffs a low laugh before pulling back and shaking his head. Cas feels a pang of disappointment as he disentangles them, but then Dean takes his hand. 

"We can talk over breakfast," he says, tugging Cas towards the bedroom, and he panics a little bit.

"Just, let me shower real quick, I'm kind of sweaty," Cas pleads, but Dean turns and pulls Cas to him, kissing him forcefully.

"Trust me," he says when he breaks away, "you're going to get much, much sweatier first."

Cas raises no other objection as Dean pulls him into the bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to everyone in the Thuper Thecret Chat Room that beta read this for me, I don't think I've been touched by so many people at once in such a long time!


End file.
